mipro Barry Sanders Project

[jondecker 0]

Yes, it does move fast.  Well Wolverine, I was hoping to join you at Michigan as early as next fall, but it will have to wait for when I get there for my Masters.  I have been accepted at Alma College and have been offered a full ride, and Michigan wont offer that to me.  But I will be there in 2 years if all goes as planned.  Would you have a problem if I sent you some models to be rendered on Sunday (Im sure you will be pretty busy on Saturday)? Let me know if it will be ok.

[budweiserdude23 80]

Date:11/16/2004 12:11:13 AM
Author:wolverine

Uh, I thought Allan told me we were going Friday. 

 

This thread moves to fast.  It is keeping me attached to my computer and away from homework.  Now I'm going to fail all my classes! 

quote>

Oh god, I'm so confused. If its Friday, I couldn't go anyways. Gotta work. And don't fail your classes. This thread can wait, sort of. Man its moving at a pretty good clip here. I'm going to have to start releasing bats again here soon.

[wolverine 12]

yep no problem.  Email them to barrysandersproject@umich.edu

 

Yeah, the only way to get a full ride here at Michigan is to be dirt poor since tuition rates are based on income. 

 

Feel free to visit Michigan any time though. What are you majoring in?

[Allan 0]

Date: 11/16/2004 12:17:51 AM
Author: budweiserdude23

Date:11/16/2004 12:11:13 AM

Author:wolverine

Uh, I thought Allan told me we were going Friday.

This thread moves to fast. It is keeping me attached to my computer and away from homework. Now I'm going to fail all my classes!

quote>

Oh god, I'm so confused. If its Friday, I couldn't go anyways. Gotta work. And don't fail your classes. This thread can wait, sort of. Man its moving at a pretty good clip here. I'm going to have to start releasing bats again here soon.

quote>

We are definately going this Friday. The ribbon cutting ceremony is at 6:00 PM, with festivities lasting all day and well into the night. The lighting of the Christmas tree is at 8:40, which is followed directly by a performance by Paul King & the Rhythm Society Orchestra.

I really need to get back to work though. I am working on an architectural model that is due in 11 hours and 56 minutes. Something tells me that I won't be getting much sleep tonight....

[wolverine 12]

Thanks for the clarifications Allan, I will definitely be there.  And all nigthers are cool man!  

 

You guys, this absolutely ridiculous, I can't believe tech support over at the 3dfa isn't responding my post.  And it's not like they are getting a swell of them.  In fact, my question was the only post in the past two days, you think, considering I spent $50 on their software, I would get some sort of response within one day.  But now the thread is up to nearly 220 views, and no responses.  I know the staff at the company are busy updating the software since a new version comes about every six months, but do any of them check the support forums?  I'm usually a patient guy, but I'm not going to wait over three days for the answer to what is likely a trivial question for them.  I'm going to send a direct email to the company, but I have no clue when I'll get a response to that since the last time I emailed them to modify my email address, they never responded with the confirmation.  I'm getting ticked, and if I don't get a response by next weekend, I'm going to ask for my money back.  Technical support was purchased along with the software since it is not available to trial members.  They are pissing me off, and I want to get this site done!

[Farminsim 7]

Bud did you get the zip of Chickenshack I sent you or do I need to do it again?

 

[baldy 0]

Yeah, sorry for the confusion regarding the C-Mart.  We're going down Friday night. 

 

BD, that's funny that you have to work on the hockeytown mess!  I remember it and feel sorry for you.  Look on the brightside, after a slow summer for you, it seams like it is starting to pick up.  The colors are fine and not only do I think the Lions colors are appropriate, they show up very well.

[jondecker 0]

I am an Engineering major with concentration in robotics and computers.  I am currently on a wait list at several very good engineering schools, but Michigan has always been my preference.  I was supposed to go to Michigan back in 91 when I graduated from HS on a full ride football scholarship, but I got hurt in the state championship game and the doctors told me that I would be unable to play for 2 years...... so Bo pulled my scholarship and gave it to someone else.  I healed very quickly, and would have been able to play the next year(no scholarships left) so I entered into the largest semi-pro payed to play draft in the country, and was a high first round pick (#3).  I played 2 years in the league and then went over to Europe to play for the Rhine Fire and was once again hurt on the day that I was to find out if I was to be picked up by an NFL team (the Lions were in negotiations with my agent along with 3 other teams) and thus my football career ended.Maybee this could have been the Jon Decker Project  HA HA HA... just kidding.

[baldy 0]

Holy crap Jon, that is one hell of a story!  Sorry to hear about you injuries, it sounds like you were pretty good.  I also graduated in 91, and went to school for engineering, all be it, mechanical engineering.  After being in the real world for quite some time now, I am sort of wishing now I would have went for my 2nd choice instead which was architecture....  Anyone got a time machine I can borrow?

[SpartanBadger 4]

Well damn that is a ton of posts in a day! This thread is really buzzing, it's great! It was really slow for the past while and now it is really picking up...Exciting!
Well if it is a problem with the LODs that would make sense seeing as I have no idea what LODs are and I never touch them!

[nofunk 1,933]

budweiserdude: I got the stats fixed on the tower. I found out the original cost of the tower was around $250,000 so converting into simoleons I made it $2,500. I think that seems reasonable. I also fixed the name and added a nice description.

Now the only thing left would be night-lighting it. I would have to render it again though, wouldn't I? Meh. Originally, I tried focusing a spot light on each side, as if there were lights at the base shining up the sides of the building, but even at intensity 1 they weren't focused enough. And then I noticed in the draft render that the lights showed up in day too (do you just prefix the names of the lights with night_ to solve that?) In any case, I haven't been on campus after dark in some time, but if I remember correctly the building glows with the ambient light from surrounding streetlights, etc, and not from any focused lighting.

I just worry that if I post it on the STEX as is everyone is going to moan where are the night lights?!?!

Also, I wouldn't mind seeing one of your projects to get an idea of how others design their buildings/do night-lights. Let me know and I can give you an e-mail address!

[nofunk 1,933]

Okay and I KNOW you did not just make my custom label a reference to a bad 80s boyband!!

Oh wait, you did.



Ohhh geez!!

[wolverine 12]

Wow Jon!  That is really unfortunate the way your football career ended so shortly, although it must have been cool to play over in Europe.  But still, that is quite a bit history you got there.

 

You know what is really strange though, minutes before I read your post, one of my friends here was telling me how he was coming to Michigan on a track scholarship but got injured and that scholarship was removed.  Talk about deja vu!!  I apparently did not know that my best friend was actually a New York All State Track runner, had set records at his school, and received other scholarships at other universities.  However, he wanted to go to Michigan to get a good education.  I never knew about this all until today.  I was suprised he had never told any of us, but then again, he is really a humble guy. 

 

Then 2 minutes later, I read your post, and I call Mark back into the room showing him that he is not the only one who had unfortunate athletic career at Michigan.

 

And yes, if you would have ended up playing for the Detroit Lions, you never know, it could have been the Jon Decker Project.

[budweiserdude23 80]

Hey no funk, I was just messing around with you. We're glad that you are here, but you have to expect a little raking over the coals. Just pray that a new guy shows up to take that title(j/k, sort of) Besides, I have a real warped sense of humor. Hell, my avatar speaks for itself. 

 

Anyways, on to other things. The stats sound about right to me. The plop costs on my lots are a little high too. I tried basing them on the plop costs of some of the landmarks but over time I have realized the error of my ways. If and when I update them I will drastically lower the plop costs. So $2500 to plop the tower sounds about perfect to me. If you use Simgoobers logic on plop costs, his ploppables are approximately 10% of the worth of the growable. In this instance, a growable is not needed though as it truly is a landmark. I think the plop cost you have come up with as just fine. As for the nightlighting, an intesity of 1.0 is not real strong for target spot lighting. You really have to play around with the parameters of the lighting to get it to show worth a darn. And you are nearly correct on the prefix issue. You attach the prefix of nitelite to any lights you come up with, with the excepetion of windows. Those are a little different animal. You can use omni to lite it up from within (but in that instance you will want to model stuff for the inside as it will show) or you can attach the prefix of nite to any object, which will light it up from the surface so to speak. Basically if you attach the prefix of nite to any object, it will light up to an intensity of 1.0 or lower with this type of lighting method and any of the three default colors, those being blue, beige, or green. For any example of this, check out my belle tire model on the stex. I used this method to get the sign to light red. The windows I lit up in the White Castle also were done by this method. You might be asking yourself, how did he get red when it is not a default color? Well, goldiva made a nice little package of 15 different night lights for this purpose. you can find that on the stex. I highly recommend downloading it. Now, back tot he lightng. On my Uniroyal Tire model, I used target spot to get it to light up in the center (which is where ryou need to use the prefix of nitelite) and used the nite method of lighting to light up the lettering. Check them out, they'll give you an idea of how different methods are used. Simgoobers lots are also wonderful examples of how to utilize nightlighting. He's a master at it. Ill shoot you over any file you want so you can see how I modeled it and lit it. Which one do you want?

 

Farminsim, I did receive that Chicken Shack. I've yet to mess with it. I'm going to have to put it through the Plug in manager and the LE to get it with a plop with jobs. Hope that doesn't offend you.

 

EDIT--- Here's another tidbit of info you guys might want to know. The bat tutorial will be returning at some point, no ETA as of yet. I asked Ski about it and according to her there were some issues with it when ST went form 3.0 to 4.0. But it will be back to help those who need it soon enough. I've seen quite a few inquiries about it across the boards so I thought I'd clue you guys in.

[ert90 8]

You're right bud. If Drew Stanton had never injured in his career at MSU we could be undefeated right now. Rutgers would haver been a blowout and the other game we lost towards the beginning of the season would probably have been a win also. And you know we would have beaten you guys if Drew was in for the 2nd half!

EDIT: Slow down, this thread goes way to fast! I was referring to bud's comments way back in the middle of page 42.

Amazing story there jon! Now I feel like googling your name, which I did, and came to the conclusion that it's not your real name! I actually ran into some 'interesting' stuff.

[nofunk 1,933]

Haha! No worries. I actually kinda like my label. It's sorta retro and stuff. But don't think that means I like the actual band, because I totally don't! No way man! But my custom label? Rocks.

And that's a funny little hat your guy is puttin' on in that avatar, isn't it? Funny indeed.

About the night-lighting, I'm about this close |-| to just releasing Burton Tower without it. Who needs night lights anyway? In any case, the Uniroyal Tire would probably give me a good idea of how to do it, since that's a landmark too. Although since my next BAT will probably be an office building, I'll soon need to know how to do that type of night-lighting. Although that somehow sounds easier than these target spots that I'm playing with on Burton. Also, if I'm lucky the tutorial will be back up by then. The tutorials I've found so far on night-lighting don't seem to be geared for beginners. Anyway . . .

[wolverine 12]

I will be up at North Campus tomorrow, would anyone like me to render and export there models?

 

I am also pleased to announce that I have fixed the problem with the website and progress is rolling on.

 

Also, would you guys like profiles about yourselves on the members page?  If so, let me know. 

[ert90 8]

I don't really think we eed profiles since we have them here but that's just me.

nofunk: DON'T RELEASE WITHOUT NIGHT LIGHTS!!! The comments on the STEX will be killer.

Trust me, the people here don't appreciate having a BAT uploaded that isn't complete with everything because they're used to such high standards.

[wolverine 12]

Yesterday was the first time I ever saw Burton Tower lit up at night.  I know this isn't what the tower really has, but it would be cool if you had an upward spotlight showing the clock.  Maybe place the spotlight about a floor beneath the clock.  Also, someone told me only the first and third and tenth floors are actually lit at night for security reasons.

 

But DO NOT upload it without lighting.  There are some members here who will make rude and inappropriate comments without appreciating your true work.  And worst of all, they don't even know how to B.A.T.  Anytime I see their behavior, I write down their names.  I'm hoping that they will be purged from the community sooner or later.

[budweiserdude23 80]

I have to agree with my fellow members on this lighting issue nofunk. As petty as it sounds, your bat, as well modeled as it is, will get chewed on and spit out if there are no lights. There are 2 absolute musts on bats (95% of the time) and those are lights and roof junk. In this instance roof junk is not necessary but the lights are a must. If you are leary on lighting, I'll suggest a few things to you.

 

1. The tutorial is back online. Check that out.

2. I will send you my Uniroyal Tire file so you can use that as a reference. Did I miss your e-mail address?

3. I could add the lights should you want. If that's the case I will need the gmax file and the textures zipped into one file and e-mailed to me. I could then add the lights and shoot it back to you so you could rerender it, LE it, etc. I'm willing to do that if you are having issues with the lights to help should you want.

[JBSimio 152]

Wow... skip a day and look what happens!

 

First off... I'm definately interested in the trip on Friday.  If someone could PM me or something I will leave a number to call for the details.

 

Jon... as has already been said, that's quite a story.  My only football story consists of being skinny and never playing in HS... then the girls ignored me... I think it all went downhill from there!  (At least you spell your name right... extra H's are not necessary!)

 

Nofunk... as I'm sure you've already gathered, take the extra time to do the lights.  No matter how eager, it will never be appreciated otherwise.  Crazy whining perfectionists that so many people are!

 

Bud... I'm still looking for textures and history.  I haven't forgotten, I'm just not finding the quality I was hoping for.

 

Everyone else.... Hi!!! How are you?

 

JB

[nofunk 1,933]

I'm real sorry you guys, I never realized how complicated this stuff really was. I mean, I didn't exactly think it was going to be easy but . . . well you know what I mean. Problem is, I have so much stuff going on right now with school, that it's hard to find the time to figure this stuff out. I've been messing around with night-lighting for a lot of hours now, and still can't seem to figure it out. Like I decided to run target spots up the sides of the building -- so it would look like there were lights at the base illuminating the sides -- and figured out how to increase intensity and everything, and the first time I ran a draft render I could see the lights but they were very dim. So I increased the intensity again and increased the distance between the cone and the target, and draft rendered again, and then the lights didn't show up at all! And I've been looking at the tutorial and it's helping me nada at this point.



Maybe for this first BAT I really need someone to help with the night-lights? Budweiserdude, you offered, and I hate to ask you because I really should be able to figure this out myself, but yeah I could really use your help. If we want this to be posted on the STEX before like, next year, that is.

Meh. I'm just real discouraged. Maybe you guys shouldn't have added me to the team just yet.

[wolverine 12]

^^ ________________________!!!  ^^  Noo, you are much a part of this team as everyone.  Ford Field is my only project that I have done on the BAT.  When did I start it?  Last April, and look how far it is.  You've completed an entire building.  Don't feel so pressured.  This project is something we do in our freetime.  Everytime we get a new member on the project, things pic up, and everyone gets motivated.  Early in the summer, we were all too busy to do stuff.  As a student here at Michigan also, I know how homework can get.  I have a huge load of work to do yet and it's 1:55 a.m.  Things get crazy, and we can wait on the model.

[nofunk 1,933]

Thanks for the boost, man. I was about to post again and say that I'm just really frustrated and venting. Although I do legitimately need some help with the night-lighting. Hopefully budweiserdude can assist.

It just sucks because I'm so close to having this thing done, but there's this one thing that's holding it up. And I keep making stupid mistakes like trying to delete a light and accidentally deleting the lower half of the building. I know I can just hit 'undo' but it's still a pain.

I'm just very impatient and want to see this thing done already!

[baldy 0]

Yeah NKOTB, don't worry about it!  I haven't got past the modeling stage yet.  I made the mistake of starting big.  Recently, I am trying something little just to get the hang of everything involved and will probably have to redo 150 west jeffereson, yet again  I'm glad to hear the tutorial is back up and I will have to try working on it again.

 

We all understand the RLS (real life syndrome) that goes on.  Personally, my wife doesn't give me a whole lot of time for this which kind of pisses me off.  We'll sit on the couch, watch TV and not say a word, but as soon as I turn the laptop, she freaks out.  At least I am sitting by her and if she wants to talk, I'm there.  I don't see the problem.  She really needs to find a hobby!

 

BD, I have been sick all week, but I still plan on getting that stuff to you, hopefully this weekend.

 

JB, what time do you think you'll get downtown on Friday?  Most of the people are getting down there early, but I won't get there until around 6:30 if I am lucky.  If your going to be down around then I'll PM you with my info.  If you're going to be there earlier, you should hook up with Wolverine and Allan.

[wolverine 12]

Allan will be picking Aaron and I up from Couzens Hall around 4:00 - 4:15.  Apparently that is when Aaron has his last class.  So we will probably be there around 5:20 after we are parked an all.

 

BTW, a crazy story.  I met Aaron over at urbanplanet.org.  Of all the people that are members of this international community, little did I know that he lived in the room beneath me in my residence hall.  Is that crazy or what?

[JBSimio 152]

Wolverine & Baldy - I have to work tomorrow morning until about 1:00... so I could probably leave here no later than 2 and be in Ann Arbor by 3:00... or Detroit by, what? 4-4:30 I guess.  I'm not sure when all this starts, so someone let me know what sounds like a good plan.  I'd like to carpool with someone along the way if possible, or at least meet and follow somewhere between here and downtown.  Thanks!

 

OK... here's the promised Willow Run story.  This one is really pretty cool and I found some things that I never knew, some of which suprised me.

 

Most of us here know that Willow Run began it's public life as part of the Arsenal of Democracy.  Henry Ford actually owned land on the site which he greatly expanded to build his factory.  Willow Run was named after the creek that ran through the area at the time.  Ground was broken for the factory (designed by Albert Kahn) in April of 1941 and the building was complete by September!  I mentioned the extension of modern-day I94 to the site around this time.  The factory was the world's largest bomber facility of its time and produced nearly 8700 bombers during WWII.  At its peak, it employed 42,000 people and was home to Rosie the Riveter.

 

After the war, the plant was converted into a luxury passenger air terminal.  Initially, Willow Run was strictly for the rich, while City Airport handled the bulk of day to day air travel for the city.  Air traffic for Detroit began slowly easing away from City Airport in favor of Willow Run, until eventually Willow Run became the main passenger airport for metro Detroit.  In 1947, the federal government sold Willow Run to Uof M for one dollar.

 

What we now know as Detroit Metro began life as an Army Airbase in (I believe) the early teens.  After a lot of expansion, upgrades, etc... it took on its commercial airport status.  Beginning in the 1950's, passenger flights slowly began shifting from Willow Run to Metro.  By 1966, all commercial traffic had moved to Detroit Metro.  Willow Run has been primarily air cargo and freight ever since.  It also houses general and executive aviation.

 

In 1977, UofM sold Willow Run to Wayne County for one dollar.  (I still don't know the details on these two sales, but found it rather interesting to think that a state university owned a major international airport for 30 years!)

 

Today, Willow Run is one of the largest cargo airports in the country.  I can't find it now, but I believe I saw it ranked third behind the main hubs for FedEx and UPS (Memphis and Atlanta?).  Don't quote me on that part, though.  Having two major airports set up this way is not common and makes air traffic in Detroit much smoother than it otherwise could be.  It's hard to say for certain, but many believe that if the volume of both airports were combined (similar to many other major cities), Detroit would rival the nation's busiest airports and quite possibly be THE busiest.

 

There you go... pretty cool, huh?  Next time... the Irish Hills trivia.

 

JB

 

 

[nofunk 1,933]

That was awesome, JB! Now I see why you're the trivia master!

To add a little bit of trivia of my own: if I remember correctly, Detroit Metro is the 12th busiest airport in the whole world.

[nofunk 1,933]

Hey baldy . . . maybe you could teach your wife how to BAT!!

[khanate 1]

Date: 11/18/2004 7:04:56 PM
Author: JBSimio

Today, Willow Run is one of the largest cargo airports in the country. I can't find it now, but I believe I saw it ranked third behind the main hubs for FedEx and UPS (Memphis and Atlanta?). Don't quote me on that part, though.

quote>

No, don't quote him on it.

Willow Run moves a bit under 50000 metric tonnes per year; the 11th biggest cargo airport in the USA, Dallas/Fort Worth, moves over 600000 metric tonnes per year (Metro does more cargo than Willow Run, I believe). However, Willow Run is definitely one of the largest ALL-CARGO airports in the country.

Khanate/Honghushi

better lurking through technology